Bruno Mars Gets His Leopard Print On With Rolling Stone Cover

Bruno Mars has notched his first Rolling Stone cover – it's about time.

The singer rocks an open, leopard print shirt and several strands of gold chains, showing off his pimp side. He's ditched his signature fedora in favor of showing off his curls and stares straight at you. Did your knees get weak?

In his feature, Mars reveals he penned his No. 1 smash, the lovelorn piano ballad 'When I Was Your Man,' for his girlfriend Jessica Caban, a model. (You can see a pic of them together, below.) The top male crooner in the U.S. is dating a model? What a shocker! Who does Mars think he is – Joe Jonas or Adam Levine?!

On the serious side, the singer wrote the track's lyrics when he feared losing her and while they remained a couple, he has trouble playing the song now because it stirs up prior feelings.

"You're bringing up all these old emotions again," he said about playing the track. "It's just like bleeding!"

Mars, born Peter Hernandez, also talks about the family band that he fronted, in which he served as an Elvis impersonator, in Las Vegas, all before he entered kindergarten. The band split and the family faced financial difficulties. Even through the struggles, Mars admitted, "I wouldn't trade it for anything…. Because I feel like I can enjoy this so much."

Want to learn more about the life and model-dating times of Bruno Mars? The new ish of Rolling Stone lands on April 26.